American OSCE monitor killed in rebel east Ukraine after vehicle hits landmine

An American monitor with the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe died after a mission patrol vehicle hit a landmine in the Russian-backed separatist east, eliciting sharp words towards Moscow from US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

It marked the first loss for the security body’s Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) since Europe’s only current war broke out more than three years ago.

The OSCE’s announcement about the US monitor’s death saw Kiev and the insurgents quickly trade blame over who was at fault for one of the most diplomatically sensitive episodes in a conflict that has claimed more than 10,000 lives.

The deputy head of the OSCE monitoring mission said the patrol consisted of six members who were travelling in two armoured vehicles near the village of Pryshyb in a rebel-run region of the separatist fiefdom of Lugansk.

“The explosion resulted in the death of an OSCE patrol member, a citizen of the United States,” Alexander Hug told reporters in Kiev.

He also said two others - a German and a Czech national - were wounded and “undergoing further evaluation” in a Lugasnk hospital.

The OSCE said it would not release the names of the casualties until their families had been notified.